Joy to the World!
Notes
Transcript
joy to the world - hymn
but though we sing “Joy to the World,” do we believe it? Do we live it? Do we have joy?
How are we to have joy in this world which is
martin luther - lack of joy
Nelson’s Complete Book of Stories, Illustrations & Quotes (Terrible Heresy)
On one occasion Martin Luther had been brooding for several days. Reports had been and still were coming of groups of peasants in revolt, and of increased papal pressure on the nobles to renounce their stand for Luther. These conspired to make him feel that he had undertaken a hopeless task.
On the morning when he was most deeply melancholic, he came into the dining room for breakfast. His wife, Katie, greeted him, attired in a black dress which was as funereal in appearance as the costume that she had worn as a nun. Martin glanced at her quizzically. She usually greeted him with a cheerful, “Guten morgen, Herr Dokter,” but this morning she said not a word.
“What is wrong, Katie?” Martin inquired.
“God is dead,” she announced sadly.
“Woman, that is a terrible heresy. God is not dead, nor doth He sleep. Never say that The Eternal has died. When heaven and earth shall pass away God will remain,” he affirmed.
“Then why do you waken each morning with such a doleful expression on your face? Why go through the day sighing like the north wind? In your university classes you claim to interpret the mind of God. You have appeared to know Him well, and I became certain, from the expression on your face, that God must surely have expired.”
She made this statement without a change of expression. Suddenly Martin burst out laughing.
“You have convinced me, Katie, dear,” he said. “So, if ever you see me again with a melancholy countenance, remind me that God is living, that He will live forevermore. I promise you that I shall try not to appear as dour as a shriveled turnip.”*
Norman E. Nygaard, A Mighty Fortress: The Life of Martin Luther (Grand Rapids: Zondervan Publishing Co., 1964), 103.
quote barclay
Joy is a winsome magnet that draws people in because it is one thing they do not have.
We are chosen for joy. However hard the Christian way, it is both in the travelling and in the goal, the way of joy. There is always a joy in doing the right thing. When we evade some duty or some task, when at last we set our hand to it, joy comes to us. The Christian is the man of joy. The Christian is the laughing cavalier of Christ. A gloomy Christian is a contradiction in terms, and nothing in all religious history has done Christianity more harm than its connection with black clothes and long faces.
But all too often, we are like Martin Luther with a melancholy attitude, and long faces.
The realities of this world, the hardships, the fallenness of the world, the broken relationships, the ones we care about walking away from the Lord, or making choices contrary to what God says is good, righteous and holy, all of these and more can overwhelm us and rob us of joy, and we become the gloomy Christians wearing black, and walking around with long faces and melancholy attitudes like Martin Luther.
How are we going to find joy? How are we going to experience joy? Do we have to wait until we have left this world and are with the Lord?
I do not believe that is what God has for us. He does not want us to have to go through this world of suffering in gloom, and wait to experience joy when we depart to be with Him. No, God wants us to know joy now, in this world, in this life, in these circumstances.
How? How do I know this? How can we experience this?
First, we can know it because of Christmas!
But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid. I bring you good news that will cause great joy for all the people.
Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is the Messiah, the Lord.
Joy was meant for people in this world, in this life!
Christmas tells us that there is joy to be known and experienced now, not just in the future.
Also, there are hundreds of verses that tell us to rejoice, or have joy now.
Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice!
Rejoice always,
OK, it is commanded, so I’ll sing a song of praise.
But my heart isn’t in it.
How can I experience joy now, and not just put on a happy face and sing a song?
Well the answer is Christmas.
The answer is that Jesus came. and He is the one that brings Joy to the World.
As I look at the gospel accounts, we find that the shepherds had joy when what happened?
The angels appeared to them? no. They were afraid
After the angels left. No. They were curious.
The Shepherds had joy after they had seen and been with Jesus.
After the shepherds, Simeon and Anna had joy when they saw Jesus.
John the Baptist had joy after he had seen Jesus - John 3.29
The bride belongs to the bridegroom. The friend who attends the bridegroom waits and listens for him, and is full of joy when he hears the bridegroom’s voice. That joy is mine, and it is now complete.
Jesus prayed for us to have the full measure of his joy
“I am coming to you now, but I say these things while I am still in the world, so that they may have the full measure of my joy within them.
The disciples were overjoyed when they saw Jesus after his resurrection
After he said this, he showed them his hands and side. The disciples were overjoyed when they saw the Lord.
The disciples had great joy when they saw Jesus ascending to heaven
When he had led them out to the vicinity of Bethany, he lifted up his hands and blessed them.
While he was blessing them, he left them and was taken up into heaven.
Then they worshiped him and returned to Jerusalem with great joy.
And they stayed continually at the temple, praising God.
The disciples had great joy when they served Jesus
The seventy-two returned with joy and said, “Lord, even the demons submit to us in your name.”
The disciples rejoiced when they suffered for Christ
The apostles left the Sanhedrin, rejoicing because they had been counted worthy of suffering disgrace for the Name.
People were filled with joy when they were saved, when they finally knew Jesus their savior
When they came up out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord suddenly took Philip away, and the eunuch did not see him again, but went on his way rejoicing.
The jailer brought them into his house and set a meal before them; he was filled with joy because he had come to believe in God—he and his whole household.
In all of these situations, people when they saw Christ, and were doing life with Christ.
In other words, they had their eyes fixed on Jesus, as the author of Hebrews says:
Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us,
fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith. For the joy set before him he endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.
Consider him who endured such opposition from sinners, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.
But people are treating me… fill in the blank
Fixing our eyes on Jesus, we will remember that He promised
“Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me.
Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.
But I am going through a trial, fixing our eyes on Jesus we will know He is at work in us
Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds,
because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance.
But look at the hardships I face because I follow Christ...
fixing our eyes on Jesus we will be like the disciples
But rejoice inasmuch as you participate in the sufferings of Christ, so that you may be overjoyed when his glory is revealed.
Jesus is our Joy
Jesus is our Joy
Scripture is clear that we are to have joy, and rejoice because of Christmas: that is because Jesus came so that we could see him, be restored to him, and live with and for him.
Joy - Jesus others you
OR
Joy - Jesus, zero, you
let nothing come between you and Jesus. Throw of the sin, the anxious thoughts of this world, and fix your eyes on Jesus!
He is on His throne.
He is The King of Kings and the Lord of Lords.
He is the Author and Perfector of our Faith.
He is never going to leave us nor forake us.
He is giving our daily bread, what we need for life and godliness.
He is going to fulfill all his promises.
He is going to come back for us to take us to be with him.
He is going to return one day to the earth to establish his kingdom. which is the topic of Joy to the World:
Logos Digital Hymnal Joy to the World!
Joy to the world! the Lord is come;
Let earth receive her King.
Let ev’ry heart prepare Him room,
And heav’n and nature sing,
And heav’n and nature sing,
And heav’n and heav’n and nature sing.
2 Joy to the earth! the Savior reigns;
Let men their songs employ;
While fields and floods, rocks, hills, and plains
Repeat the sounding joy,
Repeat the sounding joy,
Repeat, repeat the sounding joy.
3 No more let sins and sorrows grow,
Nor thorns infest the ground;
He comes to make His blessings flow
Far as the curse is found,
Far as the curse is found,
Far as, far as the curse is found.
4 He rules the world with truth and grace,
And makes the nations prove
The glories of His righteousness,
And wonders of His love,
And wonders of His love,
And wonders, and wonders of His love.
He will one day put an end to all rebellion and sin.
He will cast Satan, his demons, death and Hades into the Lake of Fire, along with everyone who is not in the book of life, and we who are his will dwell with him forever in the new earth, where he will be our God and we will be his people forever! Amen! Come quickly Lord Jesus.
Remember Martin Luther...
Suddenly Martin burst out laughing.
“You have convinced me, Katie, dear,” he said. “So, if ever you see me again with a melancholy countenance, remind me that God is living, that He will live forevermore. I promise you that I shall try not to appear as dour as a shriveled turnip.”*